Zucchini Pizza Casserole

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

While Harvey was flooding Houston and other parts of the south, Oregon has been hell-bent on burning itself down. The air quality is downright nasty and unhealthy right now — and has been — for several weeks. But through that all our local farmer’s market still plugged on, albeit many vendors and shoppers short. And with the lack of shoppers came an abundance of fresh produce my way in exchange for some of my Austin Street Tacos, and equally as much free to take home at the end of the day.

One of my dear blogging friends, Jodi over at The Creative Life in Between, had a perfect recipe posted on her site a couple of weeks ago that made the perfect candidate for some of the produce. While my time is short for blogging while running my cart, I did have a reprieve today to post this fabulous recipe as the concert I was going to sling tacos at tonight was canceled due to the smoke.

I pretty much made this recipe as written, using ground burger and halved the recipe. I’ll just linky you over to her recipe, as she has a handy-dandy printable of it too! I know MANY of you have an abundance of zucchini out there, so please plan on adding this to the list of many things to make with it. It’s quite easy AND delicious!

Click here for the recipe —> Zucchini Pizza Casserole

Mediterranean Pork Chops Sheet Pan Dinner

Mediterranean Pork Chops Sheet Pan Dinner

Hallooo my friends, I have an easy sheet pan dinner recipe for you today as well as another update on my food cart, Austin Street Tacos.

First things first, let’s get to the recipe. Sheet pan dinners are great as you just have one pan to clean up after. The slight downside to this one is you have to remove the pan a couple of times, at least I have to with my bottom broiler. I mistimed my broiling time a tad too, so the potatoes are a bit “crisp” however I got no complaints from the hubby on that, he loves crispy potatoes! I used baby red and Yukon gold potatoes and asparagus as my green veggie, but you could use any other potatoes or veggies you want. Potatoes should be even sized about 1 inch or so, and most veggies will cook along with the pork. Adjust timing as necessary.

Here’s how you do this:

Mediterranean Pork Chops Sheet Pan Dinner

3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice from one large lemon
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano (2 teaspoons dried)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 to 4 thick pork chops, any kind
1 pound baby potatoes (cut any large ones in half)
1/2 pound asparagus
Parmesan cheese (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, pepper, and salt. Place pork chops in zip-top bag, then pour all but a couple tablespoons of marinade over chops. Reserve the rest. Seal the bag and squish around to coat. Refrigerate for one to four hours.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine the potatoes and vegetables in the reserved marinade. Add the potatoes to a lightly oil-sprayed sheet pan. You can line the pan with foil but I’m working on developing a lovely patina on mine. I think I did the trick with that part this time around. 🙂

Place potatoes in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan and add the pork chops and vegetables then return to oven. Cook for another 25 minutes, or until pork registers 140 degrees in the thickest part of a chop. Bump the oven to broil. Since I have a bottom broiler, I have to remove the pan so at this point I decided to grate some Parmesan cheese over everything, but that’s optional. Broil for a few minutes, remove from oven and serve!

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Now for an update on my cart. With summer and tourists now in Bend, business is doing great at my little cart, yay! I also added a Saturday Farmer’s Market to my venue, which is doing outstanding. The first Saturday I sold out about 45 minutes before the market ended. This past Saturday, I cooked a bunch more meats and had enough, whew!

Northwest Crossing Farmer’s Market

Here I am at the very tail end of the market, serving my last customer. Pay no mind to my messy salsa bar at that point!

And looky, I got Instagrammed! I prep my salsa/condiment bar fresh each morning, and customers certainly love that it seems. Thank you bendfoodie, whoever you are!

Fresh Salsa Bar!

Oh, and here’s the handy-dandy printable for my recipe:

 

A Pie for My Parents ~ Peach and Blueberry Tart

Mom and Peach and Blueberry Tart

I have been super-busy while my parents are visiting from Texas, and also have been cooking up a storm! I saw this beautiful tart my friend Suzanne over at A Pug in the Kitchen made a few weeks ago, and couldn’t wait to hit up our local farmer’s market to make this “pie” for my parents. Technically it’s a tart, but pie sounds so much cozier. (My daughter would disagree but that’s another story…)

Friday (I played hooky at work) and Saturday were beautiful, sunny days to hit up our local farmer’s markets, where I picked up peaches, blueberries, summer squash, pickling cucumbers (I made another batch of Spicy Refrigerated Dill Pickles), a Papadew pepper, and some flash-frozen Pacific Cod from the beautiful Oregon coast. I did find some tomatillos that I wanted , but they were very small so bought other ones at the local store (I made chicken enchiladas with Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Sauce). My mom also picked up a banana chocolate chip bread, which by all accounts was delicious.

I thought my mother would be a great model to present the “pie” for you, as I had a bit of an accident whereby our new dog Penny ripped a good portion of my skin off of my lower arm with her freshly-clipped paws. The groomers forgot to file them after clipping and WOW were they sharp! They’ve since been filed. (It was an ACCIDENT, she is not mean. I got between her and our other dog Hannah Banana who stole Penny’s stick, and was trying to give it back to Penny. Lesson learned!)

The original recipe called for 6 to 8 peaches, but 3 rather large ones fit the small, shallow pie pan I had.

Without further ado, here is how I made the pie:

Peach and Blueberry Tart
Adapted from Suzanne at A Pug in the Kitchen

Pie Dough and Tart

1 1/2 cups wheat flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup light olive oil
2 tablespoons half and half
3 large peaches (I used both white and yellow)
1/2 pint blueberries

Peach and Blueberry Filling

Place the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl, then add the oil and milk and mix with a fork until well combined.

Press into a shallow pie or tart pan with your fingers. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Arrange the peaches in the pan around the sides and pour the blueberries in the middle. Place on the parchment-lined baking sheet (in case of drips).

Crumble Topping

3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons regular flour
2 tablespoons cold butter
Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with your hands until it resembles fine crumbs. Distribute the crumbs on top of the tart and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 45 minutes.

Peach and Blueberry Tart

 

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!